What have we learnt from August? NASCAR wants to race inside a football stadium; Red Bull has made their cars faster than Merc; you can forget Monza this weekend we already know the top four finishers so if you are allowed out of your house with your parents or guardians, head straight to Australia's best small town, Leyburn, for the best round the town racing in the world (if you don't end up in the school swimming pool), the 25th annual Leyburn Sprints; there are wonderfully naive individuals left in the world – Georgie Russell says Mercedes has promised he won't be No. 2 to Lewis Hamilton; average values of serious classics have stayed flat despite what you read elsewhere: Charlie Watts was a serious petrol head despite not driving; absolute proof the world is stuffed when the biggest sale at a RM Sotheby auction is a 1936 bus.
Coming into the Ferrari tribute track 100-year anniversary, the wonderfully named Autodromo Nazionale di Monza for the Italian GP, now with added sprint race, think before you bet. While Hamo is favourite here with Mad Max second fav, this is going to depend on whether Merc has upgraded its Mercs and whether Lou can take advantage of Mercedes' top speed at this track.
Talking of readers, Tony Ludington is not happy (well he drives a Mazda) because I haven't answered him. Now one excuse is that Covid has brought a flood of emails, faxes, telexes and the occasional telegram. Anyway Tony has been having problems with the radio reception in his Mazda. Tony if that's the only problem you have with your Mazda put on a keg of Coopers sparkling for us all. Tony writes: "Where are you at with my problem? Our local parish priest who has a late model Mazda 6 and has similar radio problems was told by Mazda it was the powerlines causing it!"
Our form guide for classic car values is Simon Kidston's K500. In the top 10 cars to collect are two Bugattis, three Fezzers, one Merc, one Porker and unfortunately one Alfa, but surprisingly the 1936 white Model 706 Yellowstone National Park tour bus doesn't get a mention. Sold last week, these iconic buses chauffeured visitors on the adventure of a lifetime. The 706 owes its handsome design to legendary industrial stylist Alexis de Sakhnoffsky. You could stuff 14 passengers in. The roof has a canvas top offering open-air views. During restoration, the owner specified installation of a 3000-watt power inverter to run Christmas lights for the holidays and a margarita machine as a delicious way to end outings in the summer. A margarita machine! Tony, forget the radio. Here's something every car should have as standard.